With this week’s News Round-Up (coming a day early due to the 4th of July), I’ll be going over the newest casting additions to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Lost Melody, and Woody Allen’s Untitled follow-up to this year’s Blue Jasmine. Also, I’ll give release dates and release date updates for Fifty Shades of Grey, Terminator (relaunch), 12 Years a Slave, The Seventh Son, Grudge Match, Romeo & Juliet, and All the Boys Love Mandy Lane. I’ve also got some miscellaneous news about Comic-Con panels for both Ender’s Game and Divergent. Lastly, Pixar announced some good news about their future sequel use.

Read on for complete information…

Casting

Last week we announcedThe Hunger Games were making it to Comic-Con, but today’s news relates to the casting of the new President Coin. Julianne Moore (Children of Men) will likely be joining the series for both The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2. They’ll release November 21, 2014 and November 20, 2015. (Source: Deadline)

Nicolas Cage is set to join Terry Zwigoff’s (Bad Santa) Lost Melody as a married man who falls in love with a prostitute. No other details are available at this time. (Source: Collider)

The Jeff Bridges-starring The Seventh Son moved back to January 17, 2014. The fantasy film also stars Julianne Moore. Boxing film Grudge Match, with none other than Sylvester Stallone, will play on Christmas Day this year. His aging opponent will be played by Robert De Niro. The newest Romeo & Juliet adaptation, starring Hailee Steinfeld, will now release on October 11. (Source: Collider)

Lastly, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane will release On Demand September 6 with a theatrical release set for October 11. It stars Amber Heard (The Rum Diary) and Anson Mount (Hell on Wheels).

Other

With San Diego’s Comic-Con a couple weeks away, more and more movies are announcing their plans. The latest was Ender’s Game, which will hold a panel on Thursday with stars Harrison Ford (yes!), Asa Butterfield (Hugo), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), and more. (Source: Entertainment Weekly)

Also, Divergent, the adaptation of the popular Young Adult novel, will finally (finally!) reveal footage for next year’s release (March 21, 2013). Their panel will consist of director Neil Burger (Limitless) and stars Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) and Theo James (CBS’ Golden Boy) among others. If you’re there, look for it on Thursday as well. (Source: Cinema Blend)

Lastly, following the release of Monsters University and preceding Finding Dory, Pixar had been gaining a reputation of sequel-mongering. With original ideas from the beginning (excluding the Toy Story sequels), Pixar arguably didn’t miss a beat up until Cars 2. Those scared Pixar would continue lining up sequel after sequel can rest easy because the recent influx isn’t a lasting trend. According to President Ed Catmull, they’re going to scale back on potential sequels and attempt to release an original film a year. I know I’m excited to hear this, so I thought I’d pass it along. (Source: BuzzFeed)

Jordan, who currently resides in Seattle, WA, has slowly become a film fanatic over the past couple of years. He attributes his love for film to the smash hit THE DARK KNIGHT which has created an (un)healthy obsession with both Christopher Nolan and the Batman franchise. Although he appreciates all genres of film, his favorite movies are typically psychological thrillers, with an emphasis on non-traditional narratives.